Monday, November 28, 2016

Lee Koonce has a vision. “We need a million black and Latino
kids playing the violin,” he says. “And another million playing the
cello. Two million, even.”

Koonce is the first person to
hold a paid position with the Gateways Music Festival, its main goal
being to support black classical musicians. The Eastman School of Music
Dean Jamal Rossi, the University of Rochester and Gateways itself teamed
up to create the new position.

“I think the miracle of
the festival is it’s been operated by this extraordinary cast of
volunteers, 30 to 40 de facto staff people,” Koonce says. “The miracle
of Gateways is it has been able to thrive and survive.”

Since
taking over as president and artistic director on July 1, Koonce has
already resolved one issue with the nationwide festival, which the
Eastman School of Music has played host to since 1997. As a
once-every-two-years event, it was too easy for it to slip off of the
radar. But with next summer’s festival, Aug. 8 through 13, Gateways
becomes a yearly event.

“So much momentum is lost if you take a year off,” Koonce says.

The
Gateways Music Festival, which debuted 23 years ago in Winston-Salem,
North Carolina, is a weeklong conference of talks, performances and
networking. In 2015, the event drew 125 musicians, including “20 from
major symphonic orchestras around the country, faculty members from
conservatories or music schools, freelancers,” Koonce says.

Since
1997, he’s been one of the volunteers keeping Gateways going.
Originally from Chicago, Koonce himself is a pianist, having earned his
master's at the Eastman School of Music while here from 1986 through
’88. He’s held positions in New York City as executive director of
Ballet Hispanico and Third Street Music School Settlement. Before that,
he was director of community relations at the Chicago Symphony.

Koonce confesses his own playing has lapsed over the past
three or four years as the business end of the music took over. He’s
been exploring the possibility of returning to performing with some
Rochester musicians, perhaps playing in a trio format. But he’ll still
split his week between Rochester and New York City. “A large part of my
job is fundraising,” he says, and the change is jingling on the pockets
of Manhattan’s elites.

Strategic planning for the
Gateways of the future is underway. “It’s clear to all of us that
Gateways needs to and wants to have a presence in Rochester 12 months
out of the year,” Koonce says. “How that takes shape, I’m not sure.”

Perhaps
through a permanent ensemble playing shows in Rochester, he speculates.
Or more involvement in the public schools. And, “How do we increase our
national presence?” Koonce wonders.

Not only how does
Gateways increase its national presence, but how do black classical
musicians do it? Koonce cites statistics from the League of American
Orchestras that says 1.7 percent of classical musicians are of African
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